Prayer With Gumption

Prayer With Gumption James 5:16-18

Opening Remarks: Thankful for staff, great spirit, given to hospitality, treat them well! Got to spend some time with Bro. Tim today. Took Jase and I for a ride in a Mustang Mach E that “theoretically” goes from 0-80mph in about 4 seconds.

I tell you that story because I was wrestling with what to preach tonight, and somehow God used today’s circumstances to lead me to preach on prayer.

Turn to James 5. Prayer might be the most essential spiritual activity of our lives, yet it is often one of the most neglected. We don’t pray for many reasons:

We’re too buy

We’re self-dependent

We don’t view it as effective

I’m praying that tonight’s message reminds us that prayer provides power you can’t get from any other source.

READ James 5:16-18

I’m calling the message tonight: Praying With Gumption (spunk, guts, zeal). Too many of us pray powerlessly, ineffectively, and unenergetically. But when you recognize what prayer can do, it will change the way you pray. PRAY

Introduction: The book of James is a book rich in practical instruction on how to deal with life. Here are some of the things James deals with throughout the letter:

The Christian is going to face temptations and trials in this life.

The Christian is called to live by faith and give evidence that it’s real.

The Christian is challenged to control the use of our tongue.

The Christian is to live by godly wisdom instead of worldly wisdom.

The Christian is not to judge our brothers in Christ.

The Christian is to have a proper godly attitude toward money.

The Christian is to know how to deal with affliction and sickness.

God expects a lot from us. Between living a life that pleases God and dealing with the difficulties of life, how successful do you think you’ll be navigating life without any help? Not very. We need help.

Illustration: Driving down to Falls City from Sioux Falls. Washed clothes, packed luggage, washed the suburban, arranged for things to be taken care of at church. Said goodbye to our daughter Kaitlyn, and left. But what if we made all those arrangements and forgot to get gas? How far would we have gotten?

Unfortunately, that’s a picture of the average Christian’s life. We are going to face serious difficulties in life and we take care of all the peripherals, but we fail to do the one thing from which we draw our power to live for God and navigate life’s trials.

James says the best preparation for difficulties is effective prayer. It’s Christian fuel. But it’s not passive fuel. It’s takes time and effort and energy.

E.M. Bounds wrote, “Spiritual work is taxing work, and men are loath to do it. Praying, true praying, costs an outlay of serious attention and of time, which flesh and blood do not relish.”

“Prayer can do anything that God can do, and as God can do everything, prayer is omnipotent.” ― R.A. Torrey

Illustration of George Muller

He was once on a ship going from England to Canada. It was Wednesday and he was scheduled to speak on Saturday in Quebec. Mr. Muller went to the captain and said, “I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.”

The Captain replied, “It is impossible.”

Mr. Muller then informed the captain that he had never broken an engagement in 57 years. The captain replied, “I would willingly help you, what can I do for you?”

Mr. Muller suggested they go into the chart room and pray. The captain said, “Do you know how dense the fog is?” Mr. Muller answered, “No, my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.”

So they went into the chart room to pray. The captain later described the prayer of George Muller to be like a prayer that an eight year old would pray.

He said, the prayer went something like this, “I believe it is your will for me to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon, please remove the fog in five minutes.”

The captain was about to pray, but Mr. Muller restrained him saying, “You do not believe He will, I believe He has, get up captain, open the door and you will find the fog gone.” Mr. Muller kept his speaking engagement in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.

George Mueller “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends.”

James knows the effects of prayer. He talks about it plenty in this little book:

1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God."

4:2, ”You have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss."

5:13, "Is any among you afflicted, let him pray."

5:14, ”Is any sick among you…let them pray."

5:15, "…the prayer of faith..."

5:16, "Pray one for another."

Then he says, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

Effectual and fervent together come from one Greek work – “energeo.” From which we get our word energy. It means to be operative, to be at work, to have power, and to be effective.

Prayer is a fully charged and running Mach E. But too many of us have the car in the driveway and we haven’t charged it in months. And before you think this doesn’t matter, James is talking about people that need healing. Not just bodily healing, but spiritual and emotional hearing. Homes need healing. Churches need healing. Christians need healing. Which mean prayer is too important to neglect. Our spiritual health is at stake. We need some Christians tonight to decide “I’m not just going to pray. I’m going to pray with GUMPTION.”

I. Prayer With Gumption Begins With Confession (16)

A. Vs. 16 – “Confess your faults one to another.”

1. This perhaps is the reason that we don’t see more answered prayer.

2. We are great at concealing sin when we should be confessing it.

3. It’s much easier to criticize others than confess our faults.8

4. “To err is human,” AND SO is to cover it up our erring. (Alexander Pope).

5. Understand, one requirement of powerful prayer is that we come clean.

B. Unfortunately we’re better at covering up our sin. (Billy Ingram)

1. Maintain silence unless confronted.

2. Respond to confrontation with “I don’t know,” or “I don’t remember”

3. Accuse others of things of which we are guilty.

4. Put on an emotional front of remorse to avoid a confrontational confrontation.

5. Use acts of kindness and words of flattery to thwart suspicions.

6. Put the responsibility on others to have to dig to prove their concerns rather than being like Jesus and willingly stepping into the light…

7. Stop up or coming around… “out of sight—out of mind.”

8. We don’t want to confess our faults. We don’t like it. But there are some definite results that come when we obey what James said here.

C. Listen, Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to forgive any sinner of any sin. But until you confess, you remain unforgiven.

1. Whatever sin God’s light reveals—the blood can heal.

2. But we must uncover our sins before the blood can cover our sin.

Here’s what’s possible when we confess our faults:

D. Restoration (15)

1. Confessing restores your fellowship with God.

2. 1 John 1:9

a. That sin that plagues you can be forgiven.

b. Your home in turmoil can be restored.

c. Those broken relationships can be fixed.

d. Our minds and spirits and bodies are at stake.

e. None of that is possible until we are willing to humbly confess.

E. Reconciliation (16a)

1. This is more about our relationship with other people.

2. This is so important to understand – You can’t be right with God if you refuse to get right with others.

3. There might be people here who have resentment against someone else. You are bitter. There are brothers and sisters at aught with each other.

4. When we begin to confess our faults one to another, we find that those festering sores of resentment and bitterness begin to evaporate and melt away.

5. Illustration: Preaching in Arkansas church on bitterness, after church a group of men were out in the parking lot working things out.

6. When’s the last time you humbled yourself and got something right? Just confessed it.

7. Don’t give excuses. Just admit what you’ve done. Benjamin Franklin said, “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”

8. Not, “I’m sorry you’re offended.” That doesn’t take responsibility.

9. Not, “If I have done anything to offend you, please forgive me.”

10. I mean, “I know this was wrong and I ask you to forgive me.” Let’s seek reconciliation. Without it, our prayers will lack power.

F. Revival – (16 “availeth much”)

1. Revival implies change.

2. Every great revival is marked and saturated with a confession of fault one to another.

3. All pride is gone. Humility takes over. There are no more secrets. Just honesty and confession.

4. If we want a revival of effective and powerful prayer, we must be humble with each other.

II. Prayer With Gumption Involves Intercession (16)

A. “Pray for one another”

1. The result of confession is often criticism.

“I just knew they were up to something.”

“Can you believe what they were doing?”

“I would never.”

2. But the godly result of confession should be to pray for each other.

3. When you find out brother or sister is struggling, you ought to say, “I’m willing to go to great lengths to pray for them to overcome this.”

4. That’s when “effectual fervent” comes in.

5. We care so much about each other that our “energeo” is passionate and intense because we’re truly seeking to have effective prayer. Gumption.

B. Effective prayer involves Intensity.

1. We’re too often so casual in our prayers. Mindless words and empty cliches.

2. Or our mindset is, “If I get to it, I’ll pray.”

3. If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.

4. We must decide, like the woman with importunity who wouldn’t leave her neighbor alone until she got bread, that we won’t let go until we get an answer.

5. Most of us have struggle with intensely focused prayer. Sometimes I pray and feel like all the forces of evil suddenly enter the room to fight me.

6. My mind is racing. I’m getting so sleepy. I’m saying words then forgetting my train of thought.

7. Does that happen to you? We must determine to get serious about prayer.

C. You don’t have to be a spiritual giant to pray with power. You simply need to be determined to get a hold of God.

1. Adrian Rogers said, “God does business with those that mean business.”

2. James says it this way, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

3. Stephen Olford says to "Pray when you feel like it and when you don't feel like it, pray until you do!"

D. Effective prayer means coming clean before God.

1. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man…”

2. Not just in position, but in condition.

3. Proverbs 15:29, “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous”

4. Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me...”

E. How righteous is your condition before God?

We tend to measure our righteousness by our own standards:

We create a moving scale of good, better, best.

We think we’re righteous based on “where I used to be”

Or we claim to be righteous by comparing ourselves to the average Christians around us.

God’s Measure of Spiritual Victory is not being “cleaner.” His standard is being clean!

Illustration: Serbing Taco Tuesday on unwashed dishes. “But they’re cleaner than the ground.” I don’t care! I don’t wany cleaner, I want clean. So does God.

G. God’s Standard for Purity:

1. Pure Mind (Phil. 4:8 – Whatsoever things are pure…think on these things)

No fantasy

No infatuation

No emotional ties

2. Pure Eyes (Ps. 101:3 – I will set no wicked things before my eyes)

No wandering eye

No second glances

No inappropriate viewing of any kind

3. Pure Actions

No defrauding (stealing of another’s person’s purity or invading another person’s covenant relationship.)

No flirtation

Immorality of any kind nor anything that leads to it. (Eph. 5:3)

III. Prayer With Gumption Has An Incredible Illustration

A. James uses the example of Elijah in 1 Kings 17-18.

1. When Elijah was a prophet, King Ahab and Jezebel occupied the throne and led the nation to new spiritual and moral lows. They were wicked.

2. So In I Kings 17:1, Elijah tells Ahab that the consequences for his wickedness are no rain and no dew for 3 ½ years. And it happened.

3. Toward the end of the 3 ½ years, Elijah has an encounter with the prophets of Baal and God reveals Himself as the one true God. That’s great – now everyone knows who the real God is, but the drought is still lingering.

4. So Elijah does what James says to do during affliction - he prays. Seven times there at the top of Mt. Carmel he fervently prays until he sees one small cloud. And eventually the rain returns.

B. I Kings 18 gives us three traits about Elijah’s prayer:

1. He was humble (42). He put his head down between his knees, humiliated and broken before God. Powerful prayer takes genuine humility.

2. He was passionate (42). He cast himself down before God. Stretched out before the Lord. He meant business. Sounds like Jesus praying for us in the garden. Hebrews 5:7, “He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.” Powerful prayer takes passion, concentration, effort and energy.

3. He was persistent (43). He tried seven times. He didn’t give up the first time. He believed God and went back over and over.

C. If our prayers lack power, it’s not because God lacks power. It’s probably because…

1. We aren’t humble. We’re going through the motions and checking off a list without considering just how desperately we need our God.

2. We aren’t passionate. We don’t truly believe He’s going to do anything great.

3. We aren’t persistent. We give up after the first try. All it takes is a text or an alert or a little drowsiness to become an excuse to stop. Conclusion: I just want to point out the phrase in James 5:17 one more time. “Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and HE prayed earnestly…” and his prayer was answered. You know what James is saying? Elijah was just like you. You’re just like him. You’re made of the same stuff. Which means that Elijah’s weren’t any more effective than yours or mine can be.

Richard Blackaby “You do not have to be a spiritual giant before God answers your prayer. Yet God expects you to enter His presence with a keen sense of need for His involvement in your life. The prayers of a desperate sinner gain God’s immediate attention.”

That’s what it takes. Elijah’s prayers weren’t answered because he was a spiritual giant. They were answered because he was desperately aware of his need for God’. If Elijah’s prayers can have that kind of effect, so can yours. You’re just going to have to decide …

To be willing to confess and come clean before God and before others.

To truly desire restoration, reconciliation, and revival.

To earnestly pray for others instead of criticize or hold things against them.

To be truly righteous. Pure. Right in God’s eyes. And willing to stay that way. Because He won’t hear the prayers of the unclean.

To be serious enough about prayer that you’re willing to be as humble, passionate, and persistent about prayer as Elijah was.

What difficulties are you facing in your life? What is God asking if you that you know is beyond you? What power are you depending on to help you face it? Without prayer, it’s like driving in a car with no fuel. You’re not going to make it. But choosing to Pray With Gumption activates God’s power in your life. We all face difficulties, might as well face them with God’s help instead of yours. Christian, are you praying? Persistently, every day? With passion and humility? With righteousness and honesty? Where’s the power in your prayer? Is it time to have a revival of prayer?

According to James, we can pray like Elijah. Effectively, fervently, with power. God’s power is available to us as much as it was to Elijah. It’s time to stop playing around. It’s time to start Praying With Gumption.